Sprint gave Seth a terrible plan when he tried to activate an old phone onto his account. Seth had enjoyed a $105 per month retention plan that provided unlimited text messaging and 2,000 minutes. In November, Seth noticed several charges for text messages. He called Sprint and spoke with Kiyana, who made several changes and gave Seth her direct number in case there were any additional problems.

In December, my bill came in at $450. I called Kiyana’s direct line, which was actually a number for a sheet metal company or something similar.

January’s bill was $500. Seth paid the minimum and was told Sprint would fix the problem. By February, the bill was $600.

I called Sprint and spoke to Jason, he offered a 28 day credit to keep my service from being cancelled. I wanted an investigation – something wasn’t right. I scanned the bill while on hold and noticed something: nights and weekends weren’t mentioned at all. Jason, there’s no way Sprint would charge me for nights and weekends, right? No, sir. Sprint doesn’t offer a plan that charges for nights and weekends, but it looks like that’s what’s been happening. That’s why I was 1500 minutes over each month — because they were charging me for free minutes. When Kiyana changed my plan around back in November, she left off nights and weekends completely — and nobody had noticed until now.

The investigation, and Seth’s email, after the jump…

Two weeks later, Seth’s service was disconnected. He was able to restore the service, but the CSR he spoke with never heard of any investigation.

Sprint had done absolutely nothing. Seth continued to lose service, and each CSR feigned indifference to the mistake that was obviously Sprint’s fault.

Seth’s full email.

In late September, my phone broke, so I called Sprint to activate an older phone until I could get a replacement. On my November bill, I saw I’d been charged for a number of text messages (thirty dollars or so,) even though ‘Unlimited texting’ was a feature of my plan. I had a sweet retention pla set up two years ago that offered two lines and 2000 minutes for around $105. I called to find out what was wrong with my plan, was bounced from agent to agent, my call was terminated more than once, I spent an hour and a half on hold, and then was finally switched to Kiyana, a retention specialist at a call center in Sacramento.

Kiyana told me that, when I made my September call, the representative signed me up for a new plan without my knowledge, one that did not include texting. She made many adjustments to the bill, assigned credits, and moved things around to make the bill the same amount as before ($85 plus extras) gave me her direct phone number in case there were future problems.

In December, my bill came in at $450. I called Kiyana’s direct line, which was actually a number for a sheet metal company or something similar. The rep I finally spoke to says I simply went over my minutes. I’d never gone over in minutes before — ever. Shocked, I paid the whole bill, some $300 over what I thought I owed.

January’s bill came in at close to $500. I paid the absolute minimum and left a $350 balance pending closer scrutiny of the bill — maybe there were fraudulent calls. I talked to Sprint again. The way we left it, Sprint was going to fix the problem — they knew there was something wrong.

But they didn’t fix it. February, the bill was $600. Nothing was getting resolved, and the past due amount was adding up. My cell phone bill for two months was $1000. I called Sprint and spoke to Jason, he offered a 28 day credit to keep my service from being cancelled. I wanted an investigation – something wasn’t right. I scanned the bill while on hold and noticed something: nights and weekends weren’t mentioned at all. Jason, there’s no way Sprint would charge me for nights and weekends, right? No, sir. Sprint doesn’t offer a plan that charges for nights and weekends, but it looks like that’s what’s been happening. That’s why I was 1500 minutes over each month — because they were charging me for free minutes. When Kiyana changed my plan around back in November, she left off nights and weekends completely — and nobody had noticed until now. Jason, I want an investigation started. Yes, sir. You have 28 days credit on your $1000 balance. They’ll call you about your case. I payed $105, the absolute minimum, leaving the rest to be disputed.

Two weeks into the 28 day grace, I went to make a call and found my phone service was disconnected. I called and spoke to Theresa, told her the story, that I had a 28 day credit, that I needed my phone service back on right away. She understood, was sympathetic — I hope they figure this out, she said. My phone was turned on within 20 minutes, but Theresa had no idea the status of my case or investigation into this billing error.

Today, once again, my service was interrupted. I spoke with Sherry in billing, who was sympathetic and said I should pay the absolute minimum, $105, just because that’s what I’ve been doing — leaving the rest of the balance for dispute. She couldn’t help any further, though, and transferred me to customer service and a woman named Ruby. Ruby had a lot of excuses, but the bottom line was there was no Case number attached to any investigation of my account. Any promise of an investigation from Jason last month had apparently just disappeared. Meanwhile, that $1000+ balance was just sitting there accruing late fees. Ruby, I need a case started and I need the phone turned back on now. It’s Tuesday afternoon and I’m working — I have people to call. She said that my phone could be back on within four hours (7 pm pacific.) This wasn’t good enough. I refused to get off the phone without a Case number and a guarantee they’d turn on my phone within 20. She said they’d turn it on as soon as they could and they’d text me my case number.

A hour and a half later, I don’t have a case number, have no idea what number or even what department to call to follow up on this problem. I’ve paid out at least $300 for nights and weekend overages that I don’t owe, and nobody at Sprint is keen on following up with my problem. I’ve spent 12 hours on the phone with Sprint in the past 4 months and my bill still isn’t correct.

I want full credit, I want the extra money I paid Sprint back, and I want a credit for having spent wasted hours with these knuckleheads over the phone. Mostly, I want to see killer bees let loose in their Kansas City headquarters.

Sprint’s had over four months to resolve the excessive charges. They have done nothing. Seth should immediately escalate the problem to executivesupport. — CAREY GREENBERG-BERGER
(Photo: cmorran123)